Unless you doubt that there are lots of Staffies & smilar in shelters why is that an issue? This is something that has been reported multiple times by shelters and animal rescue organisations.
There are a lot, but they are by no means the most common. To say otherwise is pretty misleading, which is exactly the sort of thing that has led to this and several other breeds being so badly misrepresented. If there are multiple reports (rather than just the one citation which seems to get referenced a lot, but without any link to the actual data) then let's have it...
That doesn't even make sense, bull terriers being common at shelters != bull terriers are the only dogs available. Why should the presence of lots of bull terriers prevent you from adopting some other dog. Is some labrador or whippet somehow tainted by the presence of bull terriers in other pens?
And yet that is precisely the reputation that has plagued rescue centres for many years. Many people won't even look at a rescue centre because they heard (or read) that it's full of Staffies and other 'dangerous' or 'banned' dogs, or that every rescue dog is a slavering, muderous child-killer just waiting to be unleashed.
It's not true, and even a cursory glance through some rescue websites will easily demonstrate that... but still, people have picked this crap up from sensationalist headlines or even well-meaning articles, and believe it instead of going to see for themselves.
Based on what exactly? Again, you've posted nothing...
Wow, really going in for the multiquoting, and even double-quoting... There may be hope for you yet!
What part requires a basis? That people assert this, or that it's not true?
That people assert it - Aside from my own anecdotal evidence, try just talking to people - You'll even find it in this and similar threads.
That it's not true - I again ask for some published statistics that actually substantiate it, otherwise I can only conclude that it's not true. Conversely, I've spent a lot of time looking carefully through the lists at various rescue centres over the past 16 years, even to the point of checking every week for several months straight, and while bull terrier types are common, not once have I seen an overwhelming number of them.
Yes, any dog can be a risk, the point is that some are far riskier.
Technically true, but the biggest element of risk is not in the breed of dog. Breed type alone has already been shown to have only a minor influence on a dog's behaviour, and if physical characteristics were the defining factor then there are plenty of other dogs capable of doing far more devastating damage than bull terrier types.
